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WASHINGTON — Rep. Cory Gardner said Wednesday he is among a small group of House Republicans pushing for a broad deal, palatable to both political parties, that would re-open the federal government, lift the debt ceiling, and cut the federal budget by $223 billion before Dec. 31.

Gardner, a second-term Republican from Yuma, said he is one of six Republicans working on a framework that would resolve the current impasse by funding the federal government and immediately raising the nation's borrowing limit.

In exchange, he said, lawmakers from the Democratic-controlled Senate and the GOP-controlled House would have to agree to entitlement and tax reform by the end of 2014.

This could mean tax cuts and changes to Medicare, Gardner said.

Rep. Cory Gardner. (Kathryn Scott Osler, Denver Post file)

"We're trying to come up with a three-year solution that encompasses all things that are creating the fiscal crisis that we continue to find ourselves in," he said. "I am committed to finding a solution ... This is no way to run a government, no way to run a business and it's hurting ... our nation."

Tax reform and federal spending cuts is not new conversational terrain among members of Congress, even within the Colorado delegation. Both Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and Mark Udall have repeatedly said they support broad tax reform and federal spending cuts.

Bennet, a member of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, voted on New Year's Day against extending tax cuts for families making under $450,000 a year because the package did not include meaningful deficit reduction.pokesman.

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"Senator Bennet continues to work with Republicans and Democrats on a comprehensive plan that materially reduces our deficit, is bipartisan and shows we're all in it together," said Adam Bozzi, a Bennet s spokesman. "What we shouldn't do is negotiate these issues with a government shutdown or default on our debt as ransom."

The sticking point between Republicans and Democrats on tax reform is not that it's needed but whether "revenue" — tax increases — is on the table in the negotiations.

Gardner said he had at least 20 conversations Wednesday with House and Senate Republicans and some House Democrats. He said he is working with six other House Republicans from the 2010 class, including New York Rep. Tom Reed.

He declined to give names of people he met with, but said he did run the idea by GOP House Speaker John Boehner. He also said he briefedBennet and Udall.

Gardner said he started the day running the idea by some House Democrats and asking whether they thought he was "crazy" for pitching such a plan.

He said there were no Colorado Democrats in the room.

More details of the framework will likely be unveiled Thursday, Gardner said, but he insisted the idea would purposefully not "box anyone in" and would give members a year to come up with agreement on spending cuts and tax reform.

"We wouldn't say, 'It has to look like this or that,' " he said. "We are purposely trying to rally the House and the Senate around the framework."

He acknowledges the plan has to be acceptably bipartisan to work.

"The bottom line is we are trying to put this into place to force the contours of the debate around a solution," he said.

Gardner is not among a group of at least 18 moderate Republicans who support putting a "clean" vote on the House floor that would re-open the federal government.

Rep. Mike Coffman told The Denver Post earlier this week he would support a measure funding the federal government that is not tied to dismantling Obamacare — a change in position from last week.

Coffman said Wednesday, however, he would not sign onto a special petition being pushed by Democrats that would force a floor vote on a "clean" continuing resolution.

This procedure is extremely rare — it hasn't happened since 2002 — and would mean that Coffman would have to buck his own GOP leadership to force the vote.

Coffman said Congress failing to raise the debt ceiling is a "greater threat" than funding the federal government, but he believes the two need to be included in one proposal.

Estimates from the Obama administration vary, but officials have said the country could reach its borrowing limit as soon as next week. This means, without authorization from Congress, the federal government would have to pick and choose which bills to pay.